Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Nanostructured Mg-Based Hydrogen Storage Materials Synthesized from Metal Nanoparticles

Mg, Ni, Co, Cu and Fe nanoparticles with a particle size of 30-300 nm were synthesized by hydrogen plasma metal reaction method. Nanostructured Mg-based hydrogen storage materials (Mg-H, Mg-Ni-H, Mg-Co-H, Mg-Cu-H and Mg-Fe-H systems) were synthesized from these metal nanoparticles. In this work, the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of these nanostructured hydrogen storage materials were studied. It was found that nanostructure could significantly enhance the hydrogen absorption kinetics but the thermodynamics (desorption enthalpy and entropy) does not change with downsizing in the size range of 50 to 300 nm.